Author Bernardine Bishop has been posthumously included on the short list in the novel category of the Costa Award for writers based in the UK and Ireland. Bishop, who wrote Unexpected Lessons in Love after becoming sick, died in July.Also shortlisted for the Costa was Maggie O’Farrell for Instructions for…
AM Holmes wins Women’s Prize for Fiction
Congratulations to AM Holmes who has taken out the Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize) for her satire on modern American Life May We Be Forgiven. The book was described by Miranda Richardson, chair of the judging panel, as “so fresh and so funny – darkly funny – and so unexpectedly moving.”
Holmes, an American, beat the much-fancied favourite Hilary Mantel whose Bring Up The Bones has already taken out two of the trifecta of major prizes, the Man Booker and the Costa.
Long list for Woman’s Prize for Fiction
Irrespective of whether you think there needs to be a separate prize just for books written by women, the 2013 list includes an impressive array of talent. It’s also a great example of the old reader’s saying “so many books, so little time.”
As would be expected, writers like Barbara Kinsolver, Michele Roberts, Hilary Mantel, Kate Atkinson, AM Holmes and Zadie Smith all make it. But there are also some intriguing less well-known writers,